The present invention relates to telecommunication. In particular, the invention concerns a new and advanced method and system for optimizing an analysis in a telecommunication network.
In telecommunication networks, various analyses are performed in which the basic principle is to obtain unambiguous result date associated with input data to be analyzed, said output data being obtained as a result of the analysis. Such analyses are used e.g. to find call destination information associated with a dialling and various origin information, to select an appropriate route to the destination and to conclude on what basis the metering is to be performed on the selected route.
An analysis proceeding on the basis of a numeric sequence is generally implemented using an analysis tree. The analysis tree is a commonly known data structure that allows very fast retrieval of a result record on the basis of a numeric key.
A problem with prior-art solutions is that, although the analyses performed are quite similar to each other, each analysis type is implemented as a completely separate entity. These analysis types include e.g. dialling analysis, which is used to select an appropriate route to the destination; subscriber number analysis, which is used to find call destination information associated with the dialling and various origin information; and metering analysis, which is used to conclude on what basis the metering is to be performed on the selected route. At present, each of these is implemented as a separate entity. A consequence of this is that there are interpenetrating functions in use, and this again gives rise to extra costs. A further problem is the difficulty of defining an application interface with respect to the analysis software, which makes it difficult to achieve uniform software design and thus gives rise to additional costs.
The object of the invention is to disclose a new type of method that will eliminate the problems referred to above. A specific object of the invention is to disclose a system and a method for the optimization of an analysis in a telecommunication network.
The system of the invention for optimizing an analysis comprises a telecommunication network, such as a wired telephone network, mobile communication network, ISDN network or a combination of these; and analysis means for analyzing data associated with calls, such as routing and metering data. According to the invention, the analysis means comprise a generic analysis mechanism which performs an analysis by going through an analysis tree. xe2x80x98Genericxe2x80x99 refers to a general applicability such that one and the same entity can be utilized by a plurality of parties and/or for different purposes without this entity having to be modified. The analysis mechanism does not understand the meaning of the data being processed by it but simply knows how to process the data, in other words, the mechanism is implemented e.g. so that it can know the type of the data being processed but does not know what this data of a certain type means. Several analysis trees may be in use simultaneously, and they can be used for different purposes. Thus, the analysis mechanism is a general-purpose functional entity which, once implemented, can be utilized again and again in different situations. Further, according to the invention, the analysis means comprise one or more analysis functions utilizing the analysis mechanism, which understand the meaning of the data produced by the mechanism and are able to utilize the result information.
In an embodiment of the invention, the analysis mechanism is implemented in conjunction with the switching platform of the telecommunication network, which is e.g. a narrow band switching platform. However, it is to be noted that the switching platform may also be a wide band platform.
In an embodiment of the invention, each analysis function is implemented in conjunction with the telecommunication network component to which it logically belongs. For instance, subscriber number analysis is implemented in conjunction with the fixed network, whereas dialling analysis is implemented in conjunction with the narrow band switching platform.
As compared with prior art, the present invention has the advantage that it makes it possible to optimize the implementation of an analysis in telecommunication networks. As the general-purpose analysis mechanism and the actual analysis functions are separated from each other, interpenetrating implementations typical of prior-art solutions are avoided, thus reducing the costs. The interpenetrating implementations referred to are a consequence of the fact that, at present, each analysis type is implemented as a separate entity, in other words, even the entity consisting of the generic analysis mechanism of the invention is implemented separately for each analysis type. Further, the invention makes it easier to define an application interface with respect to the analysis software, thus allowing easier and more clear-cut software design. A further advantage of the invention is that subscriber number analysis can be transferred to a fixed network application, which is where it logically belongs, while dialling analysis and the analysis mechanism are part of e.g. a narrow band switching platform. In prior-art solutions, both subscriber number analysis and ordinary dialling analysis must be regarded as parts of the narrow band switching platform because they are strictly tied to a number analysis mechanism going through an analysis tree. Moreover, the invention has the advantage that the metering analysis function can be developed in conjunction with the functional entity of metering, in other words, in the metering expertise area, thus allowing a unitary metering entity to be achieved.